High-pressure fermentation of CO2 and H2 by a modified Acetobacterium woodii

Global warming due to the increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is the driving force for eveloping strategies that exploit CO2 as raw material to produce interesting compounds for industry. According to this approach, Acetobacterium woodii was modified to convert CO2 and H2 into acetone. Gas fermentation was performed at high pressure to debottleneck the issue of the low availability of gaseous substrates in the liquid medium. This work aimed to investigate the catalytic performance of a modified A. woodii strain for acetone synthesis at 10 bar providing an H2-CO2 blend. First, tests were performed to assess the ability of the biocatalyst to survive heterotrophically at high pressure. Moreover, a reference test was set up in autotrophy at atmospheric pressure to confirm that it produced both acetate and acetone. Feeding the strain at 10 bar with the H2-CO2 mix resulted in growth inhibition and formic acid production. This outcome suggested a metabolism impairment due to bicarbonate build-up in the reactor at high CO2 partial pressure. Thus, bacteria were grown at atmospheric pressure in a medium with an augmented exogenous salt concentration. Results confirmed that formic acid production and growth inhibition could be due to HCO3–. Furthermore, the modified A. woodii grown at atmospheric pressure in a sterile medium pressurized before inoculation showed the same outcomes. Finally, tests at 10 bar lowering the CO2 partial pressure indicated that this gas was responsible for formic acid production but was not the only inhibitory factor for autotrophic cell growth at high pressure.